Mix the above ingredients together and you get a delicious win by the Yanks over Ben Sheets and the A’s – the perfect way to start the road trip.

A few random thoughts…Congrats to Andy Pettitte for making the All Star team following the injury to Buchholz. He was next on the list of players voted on by other players, so clap clap clap for him….Since Alfredo Aceves is clearly not coming back to the team any time soon, thanks to his latest setback, can Cashman please go out and get us another arm for the pen?…The Brett Gardner leadoff experiment tonight wasn’t wildly successful. He was 0-for-4. Small sample size, I know, but I like him in the #9 spot where there’s less pressure to get on base. He’s been doing a tremendous job there all season, so why not leave him there?…What’s the matter with Dallas Braden? Seriously, how can anyone be mad that the A’s have been selling “Get Off My Mound” T-shirts? Lighten up, guy….And did the Twins really offer the Mariners a couple of prospects for Cliff Lee? If so, does this mean he won’t be a Yankee next year?

Thanks for the tidy wrap-up. These west coast trips are tough on us in NY – happily, this is the last one this season (Who did these schedules anyway? Opening series and last series of the season in Boston – really?!). I fell asleep just after Tex’s homer, so I didn’t miss much for the rest of the game. Would have been nice to see Joba have a quick 1-2-3 inning. Thrilled for Andy the All-Star. Now we have to keep on voting to Send Swish!(love his little video on the Yanees web site)
Jane

Couldn’t stay up for the whole game, Jane. But I did get to see the important stuff — Tex’s HR and 2 back-to-back awesome plays by A-Rod. How strong is his arm that he could bobble the ball and still get the runner at first?!! Amazing. I can’t disagree with your opinion of where Gardner should be hitting – Jeter totally doesn’t mind the little added pressure and from a strictly strategic standpoint there really isn’t much of a difference between hitting ninth and hitting first deep in the game. So let’s hope they put him back. Javy has made such a comeback after a less than stellar beginning of the season – good for him.

Peggy, if you’re out there, tonight is the first “Music Under The Stars” concert — its at Burns Park in Massapequa and its disco night, featuring Tavares and Maxine Nightingale. Its a scorcher — it was already 90 degrees at 9 am today — but hopefully it will be a little more comfortable tonight – I’d rather go out than put on some disco tunes and sit in the pool! Yankees are lucky they aren’t home this week – they would melt. GO YANKEES!!!

Great game last night!!! The boys were really rockin’ their gloves with A-Rod’s great throw from third and I loved Granderson’s catch in the outfield. Did you see that foul ball that hit Cervelli in the ribs? OUCH! I got nervous. Him and Posada can’t be injured at the same time. I’m so excited that Andy made the All-Star team. I was upset that he didn’t make it to begin with, but I realized that Girardi had something up his sleeve since CC is starting Sunday. Did anyone see Andy on Live with Regis & Kelly yesterday? I love how humble he is. He’s part of this Dove for Men campaign. I’m looking out for his commercial.

When I was on Twitter last night, Amy, somebody tipped me off to the “Real Sports” segment with Braden on HBO. Apparently, he’s mad at just about everything and everybody, so I guess the T-shirt thing makes sense (sort of). But you’re right – it’s probably because he didn’t think of it first.

Poor Chan Ho, Paul. They had Moseley warming instead of him last night. I guess he’s not trustable at the moment.

I did forget, Jeff, but here’s how they roll in the 805 – we try to find humor in stuff and not take ourselves too seriously. Braden should try it.

You’re welcome, ladyjane. The west coast games are even though on me, because they end at 10 and then I have to blog. I prefer the 7 pm games because they’re at 4 here. Perfect for actually having a life. lol. And yes, it was a relief (literally) to see Joba have a 1-2-3. He threw strikes, threw hard, located well. Like the old Joba. Apparently his home/road splits are really staggering. Wish I had them to post.

Glad you stayed up to see most of the good parts, Diane. How about those two plays by A-Rod? On the second, when he dove for the ball and then got up and threw it to first, I actually held my breath thinking of his hip. Ouwwww. Great job by Javy, who’s been really consistent since his bumpy start. I was just hoping the hitters would score some runs for him.

Oh, right, beckers46. Forgot to mention Cervelli getting hit in the ribs. That was horrible! I kept wondering what we would do without another catcher. I guess if Jorge isn’t better today, we’ll be seeing somebody come up from Scranton. The only problem is who will get sent down if that happens? Very happy for Andy making the team. He was on Regis? Rats. I missed it. If you find a link to the Dove commercial, let us know.

That was really funny Amy! Also I was going to say I think Braden is just mad at everything, so I guess HBO beat me to it. This was a picture perfect, or pitcher perfect game. Vasqueeze has really come into his own. If AJ gets it right and Hughes forgets he’s on his rules this could be a monster second half. But of course, you’re right about the bull pen. But who’s out there? I don’t want another 40 year old pitcher. I think all Girardi has to do is hypnotize his team and tell them RISP is a good thing. I was thinking it’s funny Curtis Grandy and Collin Curtis were back to back in batting order and in the outfield together and was going to bring it up but you beat me to it too!

Good question about the bullpen, seindsfeld. Who’s out there? It wouldn’t be a bad idea to try for a veteran, given that Melancon hasn’t shown us much and Albaladejo, while effective in Scranton this year, doesn’t inspire confidence at the ML level. I’m still hoping Aceves will make a miraculous recovery.

Just checking in from Fairfax, VA & DC. Thanks for filling us in on what’s been going on in Yankeeland. Haven’t seen or heard any Yanks since Friday, but my daughter and I did get to see Stephen Strasburg pitch at Nationals Park against the Mets on Saturday. We missed the Nationals big ninth inning comeback because both of us had had enough of sitting in the sun. We and about two thousand other people decided to beat the rush to the Metro and left when the Mets were up 5-2.

It’s too hot to enjoy any DC sights this week and unfortunately, I’ll be heading back to upstate NY just when the heat wave is supposed to be breaking. Instead, I’m enjoying hanging out with my grandson, who’ll be two in a couple of months.

Hi, jojovanb. So that’s where you’ve been. Very cool that you and your daughter got to see Strasburg. What’s your assessment? Is he the phenom we’ve been hearing about? Enjoy the rest of your trip and travel safely.

Jane: Wins like last night’s seem so easy – I wonder why they can’t do that every night! I’m so glad Javy did well. He has the best ERA of the Yankees starters since MAY 12! Can you believe it? Haha, I believed in him :)
-Virginiahttp://southernbelle.mlblogs.com

And the crazy thing is Dallas Braden doesn’t even like the fact that the A’s are selling these t-shirts :P He was very shy about it actually when they asked him what he thought about it. Strange isn’t it. So I guess A’s want some sort of revenue?

Congrats to Andy! yay! He’s deserving :)

Sorry to hear that Mo can’t make it! Although it’s probably better for him to be healthy than injure himself more at an all star game. What’s an all star game without Mo? D: Well hope he has a great rest then :)

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